Amid some doubt the debate between President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris would happen, Trump said Tuesday in a post on Truth Social that the planned presidential debate is back on.
Questions over whether the debate would happen came amid Trump’s expressed concerns over ABC’s posture toward Republicans and arguments from both camps regarding debate rules.
After watching an interview with Sen. Tom Cotton on the network on Sunday, Trump said, per NBC News, “When I looked at the hostility of that, I said, ‘Why am I doing it? Let’s do it with another network.’ I want to do it.”
“I’d much rather do it on NBC. I’d much rather do it on CBS,” he continued. “Frankly, I think CBS is very unfair, but the best of the group, and certainly I do it on Fox, I’d even do it on CNN. I thought CNN treated us very fairly the last time.”
There was also some discussion between the two campaigns about changing the rule that over muting the participants’ microphones when the other candidate was speaking, as had been the case during Trump’s debate on CNN with President Joe Biden. Harris’ camp wants hot microphones for both sides, allowing any comments to be heard during each others’ remarks.
Harris campaign spokesman Brian Fallon said that, “The vice president is ready to deal with Trump’s constant lies and interruptions in real time. Trump should stop hiding behind the mute button,” per NBC News.
Fallon also said that Trump’s team prefers muted microphones.
Regardless of his team’s preferences, Trump said the microphone issue “doesn’t matter to me, I’d rather have it probably on,” per The Week.
“I have reached an agreement with the Radical Left Democrats for a Debate with Comrade Kamala Harris,” Trump announced on Truth Social on Tuesday. “It will be Broadcast Live on ABC FAKE NEWS, by far the nastiest and most unfair newscaster in the business, on Tuesday, September 10th, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The Rules will be the same as the last CNN Debate, which seemed to work out well for everyone except, perhaps, Crooked Joe Biden. The Debate will be ‘stand up,’ and Candidates cannot bring notes, or ‘cheat sheets’.”
He also said, “We have also been given assurance by ABC that this will be a “fair and equitable” Debate, and that neither side will be given the questions in advance (No Donna Brazile!)”
According to reports, the rules in place for the CNN debate will remain the same for the Sept. 10 debate, it stands to reason that candidates’ microphones will be muted while the other is speaking.